Barathy Akkan

She feels at her most beautiful doubled up with laughter. The Glarus-raised nurse and model on Tamil pride and her Hannah Montana double life.

TEXT BY STEFANIE PONCA
PHOTOS BY RENÉ FITZEK
STYLING BY JENNI TSCHUGMELL @style-council
HAIR + MAKE-UP BY SOPHIA SINGH @style-council

Conversation

Barathy Akkan grew up in the canton of Glarus with Tamil roots. She is a qualified nurse, and she works as a model. A conversation about belonging, the beauty of small moments and two worlds where she is equally at home.

LEFT: DRESS BY AZUR AND NECKLACE FROM OPIA. EAR CUFFS BY SHERYLIN BIRTH. RIGHT: OUTFIT BY JULIE KEGELS FROM TASONI.

Stefanie

Before we talk about beauty ideals and identity: when do you feel most beautiful?

Barahty

When I laugh so hard my stomach hurts. That feeling when the laughter slowly dies down and you’re completely spent from it: to me, that’s the most beautiful thing.

Stefanie

You grew up between two cultures, in the canton of Glarus and with a Tamil background. Switzerland and Tamil culture have quite different ideas of beauty. What was that like for you?

Barahty

I didn’t always get much that was positive from either side. These days I’m glad to look Tamil and to be Tamil, but it wasn’t always like that. As a young woman, what I wanted most was to belong, and not to feel all the time that I stood out. So there were moments when I wished I looked more like the people around me.

Over time, though, I realised there’s no fixed rule for how you’re supposed to look or be. That helped me value where I come from. Today I’m proud of it. I like speaking Tamil, I listen to Tamil music, I celebrate Tamil festivals and I wear Tamil jewellery. I want people to know where I come from.

Stefanie

Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Barathy

Sweet things, definitely. And not even the fancy ones. Anything chemical and artificially sweet. Rather than a fresh filled croissant, give me the packaged one in its plastic wrapper, with everything in it you can’t really pronounce.

Stefanie

You trained as a nurse and you also work as a model. From the outside, that’s an unusual combination. How do the two sit together for you?

Barahty

To me it’s completely normal. I’m a qualified nurse. I chose that profession early on and I’ve never regretted it. Modelling, on the other hand, was never something I set out to do. At some point both simply became part of my life, and the combination suits me well.

I often notice that people are surprised and almost put me on a pedestal for it. Sometimes I even find it a bit of a shame that modelling gets me more appreciation for my nursing than people get who do the job full-time, every day. They, of all people, deserve just as much recognition. Still, it does sometimes feel a bit like Hannah Montana: two different worlds, both of them mine, and both of them make me happy.

EAR CUFFS BY SHERYLIN BIRTH.

Stefanie

Is there something in your nursing work that has shaped you in particular? Something no other profession would have taught you in quite the same way?

Barathy

What nursing has given me more than anything is the knowledge that life often doesn’t go the way you think it will, and how quickly things can change. Working with people in very different circumstances has taught me how much relationships matter: with family, with friends, with the people close to you. That has shaped me a great deal, and it’s one of the reasons my own friendships and relationships mean so much to me today.

Stefanie

Ten years from now, what would you like to still be doing exactly as you do today?

Barathy

I hope that in ten years I’ll still be able to consciously celebrate everyday things and appreciate them. Small routines and simple moments in daily life give me a sense of wellbeing and calm, and I never want to lose the knack of seeing something beautiful in exactly that.